Always There
by MarsInsane
Summary: Takes place right after episode 16 Failsafe. Dick needs to reassure himself that Batman is still there. Fluff. No pairing.


Takes place right after the episode 16 **Failsafe**. So spoilers if you haven't seen that episode yet.

Drabble. Dick+Bruce centric. Fluff. No pairing.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Young Justice, JLA, or Batman.

[line break here since stupid line break doesn't work for me]

It was the day after the Young Justice's disastrous, heavy on the dis, training session. Even though it was Sunday, and they were supposed to be at the mountain, their mentors told them to go home, probably to center themselves. They all had silently agreed.

Wally was spending the day with his Uncle Barry and was getting tips on how to ask out Artemis, which he didn't need or so he thought. M'gann stayed at the mountain with her Uncle J'onn, Connor, Wolf, and Sphere. Artemis was with her mom helping out around the house, probably worrying her mom since she wasn't complaining about something or other.

In Wayne mansion, Dick was loitering outside of Bruce's study. Dick knew he could have been training or playing a videogame or something somewhat productive but he felt… off. He knew it had to do with the training exercise.

"Come in Dick." He suddenly heard Bruce say lowly from behind the closed door. It barely startled him but he was tempted to do a sweep for hidden cameras. He just shook his head then slipped in quietly, hopped over the couch, and landed next to Bruce, who was holding a book and flipping through the pages. He just sat there looking at the man until Bruce looked up. "Is there something wrong?" Dick smirked a little.

"Well there are a lot of things wrong; with the world, with the people, with schools, with the environment. You'll have to be more specific then that Bruce." Dick said cheekily letting out a little demented giggle at the end.

If Bruce was a lesser man he would have rolled his eyes but instead he just shook his head. "You don't tend to loiter outside my study when something is going right. So something must be wrong." Bruce pointed out. He then looked at the younger boy and frowned. "Does this have to do with yesterday?" Dick's smirk fell and he looked off to the side. That was answer enough for Bruce.

"It was just an exercise… Or is this because of M'gann?" Bruce asked.

"It's not M'gann and it wasn't the exercise per se." Dick started. "You have put me through similar exercises. I could handle that. And we already knew that M'gann was still figuring out her powers. She was green when she started, no pun intended." Dick cracked a small smile at his own joke and then fell silent.

Bruce stared at him waiting for more while Dick just stared back. They were waiting for the other to crack. Dick's smile turned into a smirk and it kept getting bigger as the seconds ticked by until Bruce smirked in return.

"Is this about dating advice then?" Bruce asked as he glanced at his book nonchalantly. Dick's eyes went wide and then he glared.

"No. Besides I get dating advice from Wally whether I want it or not." Dick said flatly.

"Would you like **correct** dating advice?" Bruce said, his lips quirking up in a smile. Dick snorted at that and smiled at the man. They then fell into an easy silence. Bruce put the book on the coffee table and leaned further back into the couch while Dick moved so he was sitting with his legs curled under him.

After a few more minutes Dick moved closer to Bruce and held his sleeve lightly while staring at the couch. Bruce looked at him curiously but waited. He was a very patient man after all.

"In the training exercise… you died." Dick started. "I didn't feel anything, like J'onn said. In fact, throughout the whole exercise I didn't feel anything when someone died… Not even when M'gann took control. Well actually when M'gann took control I just got more determined. I mean, I'm not saying that I feel nothing if someone actually dies." Dick looked up at Bruce with a frustrated look but Bruce was surprised to see tears in Dick's eyes. He was sure those weren't tears of frustration.

Bruce saw that the boy had a death grip on his sleeve. It dawned on him what Dick was getting at. After the exercise the boy had seemed fine, a bit subdued but that was understandable. He was the same Robin as always. But now, as Dick…

"The feelings have caught up with you." Bruce stated. Dick nodded and looked back down at the couch. Bruce gently grabbed Dick's hand that was holding his sleeve and held it as he wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders pulling him into a hug. Dick's arms went around his middle clinging to him as the boy buried his face in Bruce's shoulder.

Bruce just held Dick rubbing his back soothingly as the boy held on to him for dear life. It wasn't long until Dick got himself under control and shifted so he could look up at Bruce with tear-streaked cheeks and slight red eyes.

"You died." Dick stated. Bruce frowned not sure what to say but Dick kept talking. "You're not allowed to die. It's just not possible." Dick let go of Bruce but stayed leaning against him. "I mean, it's more likely the sun would implode or explode… maybe we should just say it will plode. It's more likely the sun would plode before you died."

Bruce just shook his head at the butchering of the English language but smiled at how much Dick thought of him as indestructible as he kept listing catastrophic events that would destroy the Earth before Bruce himself would die.

"And the day you do die the whole universe might as well plode!" Dick said dramatically and smirked at his mentor. "Because the day you die… Will be the worst day in the history of man." Bruce brought a hand up and ruffled Dick's hair.

"Then I suppose I just won't die. After all, I won't be a very good Batman if I don't protect the universe." Bruce said as serious as possible given the situation. He felt like he was talking to the eight-year-old version of Dick more than the thirteen year old. "But how about I live just so my little Robin won't be lonely?" Bruce said getting to the heart of the matter.

Dick blushed and pouted making Bruce smile. He knew the boy didn't want to lose any family. He had lost enough already. That's one of the reason's why he specified to J'onn that the exercise was not to let the team feel too emotional for the losses. He didn't want to cause trauma or, in Dick's case, a relapse.

Bruce just put his arm back around Dick's shoulder hugging the boy to him. They stayed like that until Alfred came in to announce that lunch was ready.


End file.
